Patent 8351048 was granted and assigned to 4D Technology Corporation on January, 2013 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A phase-difference sensor measures the spatially resolved difference in phase between orthogonally polarized reference and test wavefronts. The sensor is constructed as a linear-carrier phase-mask aligned to and imaged on a linear-carrier detector array. Mireau and Fizeau polarization interferometric objectives are implemented with a thin conductive wire grid optically coupled to the objective beam splitter.